ChaosTrek: Star Trek's 60th Anniversary Celebration Makes One Huge Mistake

Star Trek turns 60 on September 8, marking six full decades since The Man Trap first introduced audiences to the crew of the original Enterprise back in 1966. That is an incredible achievement on its own. Most television franchises are lucky to survive six seasons, and Star Trek has survived six decades, multiple cancellations, failed movies, massive changes in ownership, long gaps without new content, and more than a few creative decisions that probably should have killed it completely. And here we are. Star Trek is alive, and millions of people care about it.

Paramount has spent the last year telling everyone that this anniversary would celebrate the franchise's history and its future. The history part is covered. More than 750 theaters across the United States are bringing back newly restored presentations of the first four Star Trek movies, the motion picture, Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock, and Voyage Home, with classic episodes attached to each screening. That part is genuinely awesome. Seeing Wrath of Khan restored on a theater screen alongside Space Seed is exactly the kind of thing I need from an anniversary, and I am not going to complain about Star Trek movies returning to theaters so modern audiences get another chance to experience those stories the way they were originally intended.

There are also celebrations planned around the world. London is getting massive Star Trek takeovers, the Science Museum is hosting a special event, Gene Roddenberry's Hollywood star is being restored, and a Starfleet badge is apparently going to the International Space Station. Fans will also attempt to set a world record for the most people performing the Vulcan salute simultaneously. That is fun, it brings the community together, it celebrates the influence Trek has had on real science, and it reminds everyone that this franchise is much bigger than a television show.

The television programming lineup gets a little weird

Then we get to the television programming, and this is where things get strange. The Price Is Right is doing a Star Trek episode, and I have no idea why. Let's Make a Deal is doing a Star Trek episode too, and I still have no idea why. Entertainment Tonight is opening its vault for a special, there is a night running a Big Bang Theory marathon, and the animated YouTube series Star Trek Scouts is launching its second season.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of that. Somebody out there has probably spent the last 60 years waiting to see Plinko boldly go where no pricing game has gone before, and I am happy for that person. Their moment has arrived. But this is Star Trek's 60th anniversary, not some random Tuesday where Paramount needs to fill three hours of daytime television. This should be the moment when the company stands up and tells fans where Trek is going for the next decade. Instead we are getting Drew Carey standing next to a cardboard Enterprise.

That is the real problem with this entire celebration. Almost everything in it is looking backward. We are replaying the old movies, revisiting old interviews, celebrating old characters, selling new versions of old merchandise, and reminding everybody how old Trek is and how important it used to be. The franchise that taught generations of people to look forward to the future currently seems terrified to tell us what its own future looks like.

Strange New Worlds is airing its final season while I catch up

I will admit I have not watched a lot of Strange New Worlds. Last night I sat down and watched the puppet episode with my wife Ashley, and she looked at me completely confused about what we were watching. Then I watched the next episode, where the crew gets caught in the slipstream, and that one was wild, going from a puppet episode to something genuinely dark, with a table impaling a character who then stands there for the entire episode.

Season 4 is airing right now. Paramount already confirmed season 5 will be the end, and it will only contain six episodes. One of the most popular and recognizable Trek shows currently streaming is at its finish line, and instead of announcing the series that will eventually replace it, Paramount is throwing a party for the ending.

Starfleet Academy is not enough, and fans are asking for Legacy or United

Starfleet Academy is coming, and some people would say more Trek is generally better than less, but Academy is not carrying this franchise. So the real question is where the next ship is, where the next captain is, and where the series is that takes us beyond the ending of Picard season 3 and finally moves the primary timeline forward. Fans have spent years asking for Star Trek Legacy, and fans are asking for Star Trek United on a huge level. Interest in United runs high every time I bring it up, drawing thousands of comments. People want it.

Paramount does not have to use the exact titles fans have floated, and it does not have to follow every idea that gets pitched online, but Picard season 3 set up a captain, put Seven of Nine aboard the Enterprise G, made Raffi the first officer, put Jack sitting beside him, and had Q open the door to another ten seasons. Paramount did not accidentally leave that setup sitting there. They gave the audience a clear path into the next generation of Trek, and then walked away from it. If they have no intention of making Legacy, tell us what the alternative is. Give us a new Enterprise, a new crew, something set 50 years after Picard, moving the timeline forward far enough that the writers have room to create without constantly crashing into established canon, new species, new political situations, or a trip back to United.

The franchise's greatest moments came from building something new, not replaying the past

The Next Generation did not succeed by bringing Kirk back every week. It jumped forward and introduced Picard, gave audiences a different Enterprise, and trusted them to embrace a new crew. Deep Space Nine took the formula darker and more complicated. Voyager sent its crew across the galaxy. Even when those shows referenced what came before, they built their own identities.

Right now modern Trek is trapped between nostalgia and uncertainty. Paramount knows the old characters sell, and they know fans will show up for restored movies, reunion panels, and Enterprise merchandise. This anniversary slate is not underwhelming because the events themselves are bad. They are cool. It is underwhelming because Paramount has assembled this huge celebration around 60 years and is not giving fans what they need, not what they want, but what they need: a path forward.

Fans said something similar before San Diego Comic-Con, when that panel was promoted as a celebration of the anniversary and delivered legendary actors and emotional moments but no real forward-looking announcement. Star Trek fans are not asking for fifteen new shows. The franchise probably became too spread out during the peak Paramount streaming era already. What is needed is simply an answer to what the next movie is about, what the next Prime series is, and whether Paramount is even looking at the fandom's calls for United. We should celebrate Kirk, Spock, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer, because Trek is special. But Gene Roddenberry's entire idea was built around believing there was something better ahead of us, so what is it, Paramount?

What do you think Star Trek should announce next for its future?